- I remember looking out of the door to see the snow even with the porch. I was about two years old.
Winter 1949 me with my sister Pearl. Springfield, MA. We played out in the snow and pulled each other on that sled when we were older.I remember March blizzards when my sister and I would be about the only students at Roosevelt Elementary school. Most people stayed home, although the schools never closed. We lived on Calvert, two blocks from the school and our mother was a teacher there, we all walked there together.
The New York Snow Storm 1969: Right now there’s a blizzard going on outside. I was out earlier to wash and I got soaked. You can’t hardly see a block and it’s already at least 5 inches (maybe 3) and giving no sign of stopping.
Thanksgiving of 1975 my husband, my two daughters and myself traveled by bus from Charleston, SC to Detroit to visit family. There was a heavy snowfall the night before we were supposed to leave and the buses stopped running. After waiting at the bus station, we called a friend who took us back to my parents house where we stayed until the buses started running the next day or the day after. We slept downstairs in my grandparents flat, which was empty as they had died the year before. That is the same flat that my grandmother is looking out of the window above. Those couple of days might have been the most pleasant of the trip.
Excelsior Springs: In the winter the roads were snowy and icy. I had learned to drive in the South and was not use to winter driving. When the first heavy snow fell, I went out in the yard with the kids and played in it. We couldn’t understand why none of the neighbors were out there. After several more years, snow didn’t seem so glorious. Still nice though.
Thanksgiving 1991: My memories of this Thanksgiving begin with the snow storm that dumped at least a foot of snow on us. It started the day before and continued into Thanksgiving day. I remember waiting for people to arrive, standing out in the yard looking through the woods at the road and seeing cars coming through the snow.
For several years my 4th daughter Tulani taught her dogs to pull a dog sled. I took one ride on it. Even though it was going very slowly, I felt like I was racing along the road at break neck speed.
In 1998, my oldest granddaughter was Baptized in Detroit. I drove down from Idlewild. When we went into church big, fat snowflakes had started to fall. By the time we came out snow covered everything. I think this was another March snow storm.
Several years later, after a stay in Oceanside, CA, my daughter and her family moved back to Michigan. They came up to Idlewild that winter and experienced snow for the first time. Here I am pulling the same sled my sister is sitting on in the earlier photograph as another granddaughter follows.
This is one of my favorite snow pictures. I took it at the last house we lived in before moving to Atlanta. I love looking at the snow and walking in it, but driving on it is not fun, especially if it melts and freezes as ice. When I asked my husband his memories of snow he said sliding off of the road and driving to work in the snow.
We live in Atlanta now where we don’t get the big snows of Michigan but almost every year we’ve had a day or two with snow on the ground.
You weren’t kidding when you said you knew all about snow! That picture of you as a toddler with your sister is delightful.
We were adorable 😀
I love the idea of linking all those memories with a kind of daisy chain of snow. Memories from different periods of your life brought together and providing an almost impressionist picture of your life.
I was surprised once I started putting it together how certain things reappeared.
A great job on the remembrance of your ode to snow.
I could probably come up with even more if I keep thinking.
Snow in the deep south is a big event, we become giddy with the anticipation of snow. Your snow pictures are beautiful. I too like the one of the house with the sun peeking through the trees and the one with you, the sled and granddaughter.
Thanks Linda. Yes, it is a big event. Everybody flocks to the stores like we are going to be snowed in for a month when snow is predicted.
What fun to read of your memories of snow, through the ages, Kristen and fabulous pics to illustrate your story. Loved it, especially as the world of snow was totally foreign to me born and growing up in South Australia… until going on a “teacher exchange” in Washington State – 1994. What an eye-opener that was 😆
I remember your stories of that exchange.
The picture of the church and the big snowflakes is so pretty. It would make a great Christmas card.
This post makes me want to dig through my photos to find snow pictures across the years.
If I had done Christmas Cards from my photos this year, I would have been tempted to use this one.
Somehow I missed this when you posted it. After two snows in three days and three bouts of shoveling, snow shouldn’t feel so romantic anymore, but it still does. I lovethe photo of you and your sister with your Afros and peacoats and your grandmother in the window. And the continuity in the photos–sisters together, and the same sled being used for your granddaughter!
Next time it snows here, I’ll have to get together with my sister for another photo in the snow. Too bad I left the sled in Michigan.
Your memories of snow put a huge smile on my face. I just loved how your story and pictures all flowed together. The picture of you and your sister is beyond adorable. I love the coats. My mother had one that I use to wear. Thank you for sharing your memories. I miss snow, it made everything look so beautiful.